If the reader should take the trouble to test the foregoing analysis, he would, in all probability, not agree with every assignment made to the various categories of meaning. He would however, agree that the ranges of meaning of the three words are as they have been described. The objective, scientific word for cause in Thucydides is aitiai. prophasis means, basically, " reason"; in its Thucydidean range the reason may be true or false, alleged or unspoken. aitia means responsibility, or what is responsible, or the imputation of responsibility. Both prophasis and aitia invariably (except, of course, in the description of the plague, which obviously imitates Hippocratic usage and is atypical in Thucydides) are concerned with the feelings of the participants in the scene.A curious anomaly is thus revealed. Thucydides, the scientific historian, uses his objective word for cause, aitiai, only seven times. The subjective words, which have to do with the motives, reasons, pretexts, grievances, and charges of the participants, he uses far oftener, and uses these exclusively in his most important discussions of cause, those concerning the causes of the war. An explanation of this apparent renunciation of the scientific approach will form the conclusion of this study.
If the reader should take the trouble to test the foregoing analysis, he would, in all probability, not agree with every assignment made to the various categories of meaning. He would however, agree that the ranges of meaning of the three words are as they have been described. The objective, scientific word for cause in Thucydides is aitiai. prophasis means, basically, " reason"; in its Thucydidean range the reason may be true or false, alleged or unspoken. aitia means responsibility, or what is responsible, or the imputation of responsibility. Both prophasis and aitia invariably (except, of course, in the description of the plague, which obviously imitates Hippocratic usage and is atypical in Thucydides) are concerned with the feelings of the participants in the scene.<br>A curious anomaly is thus revealed. Thucydides, the scientific historian, uses his objective word for cause, aitiai, only seven times. The subjective words, which have to do with the motives, reasons, pretexts, grievances, and charges of the participants, he uses far oftener, and uses these exclusively in his most important discussions of cause, those concerning the causes of the war. An explanation of this apparent renunciation of the scientific approach will form the conclusion of this study.
正在翻译中..